By Lookout Staff

April 22, 2022 -- Santa Monica College (SMC) will focus on two space missions during its planetarium shows next month, while its lecture series will explore what it's like when a nurse becomes a patient.

SMC continues its Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series on Tuesday, May 3 at 11:15 a.m. with a free virtual presentation by Theresa Brown, an oncology nurse who was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.

Brown, the author of the recently released "Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient," is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, where she writes about nursing and health care.

She also wrote "The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives," a New York Times bestseller that "portrays one real shift worked by a hospital nurse," event organizers said.

Her Opinion series, “Bedside,” examined health care from a nurse’s point of view. She has also written for CNN.com, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Slate.com and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

SMC's John Drescher Planetarium continues its Friday evening events in May of Friday, May 6 and 13, at 8 p.m. with the show "Artemis Program Update" presented by Senior Lecturer Jim Mahon.

Mahon will discuss the "highly anticipated" flight of Artemis 1, which has been delayed again and is now scheduled for a possible launch no earlier than June.

The launch of the SLS booster and Orion spacecraft "on an uncrewed test flight into lunar orbit and back to Earth" is part of an effort to send humans back to the Moon -- and beyond," event organizers said.

"The show will offer a shuttle program veteran's perspective on developments, and will review program status and likely paths forward after that first uncrewed test flight."

The series continues Friday, May 20, with "We Love Lucy," a presentation by Associate Lecturer Sarah Vincent on NASA's first-of-its-kind mission to Jupiter.

The show will "present an in-depth look at Lucy, an extraordinary mission that will explore both sets of Trojan asteroids for clues to the history of the solar system," organizers said.

The shows take place Fridays at 8 p.m. and are preceded by a streamlined, virtual digest of the popular Night Sky Show at 7 p.m. that offers the latest news in astronomy and space exploration.

Currently, the planetarium is using the Zoom platform. To attend the shows, the Zoom software version 5.0 or higher must be installed on the viewer’s computer. A free download is available at zoom.com.

"The shows include the chance to chat with the planetarium lecturers and ask questions related to astronomy and space exploration," planetarium officials said.

More information is available online at smc.edu/planetarium or by calling 310-434-3005. Shows are subject to change or cancellation without notice.